Links

This form does not yet contain any fields.
    1948 World Chess Championship 1959 Candidates 1962 Candidates 2.c3 Sicilian 2.f4 Sicilian 2011 European Team Championship 2011 Russian Championship 2012 Capablanca Memorial 2012 Chess Olympiad 2012 European Women's Championship 2012 London Chess Classic 2012 U.S. Junior Championship 2012 U.S. Women's Championship 2012 US Championship 2012 Women's World Chess Championship 2012 World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2013 Alekhine Memorial 2013 Beijing Grand Prix 2013 European Club Cup 2013 European Team Championship 2013 FIDE World Cup 2013 Kings Tournament 2013 London Chess Classic 2013 Russian Championship 2013 Tal Memorial 2013 U.S. Championship 2013 Women's World Championship 2013 World Blitz Championship 2013 World Championship 2013 World Rapid Championship 2013 World Team Championship 2014 Capablanca Memorial 2014 Chess Olympiad 2014 London Chess Classic 2014 Petrosian Memorial 2014 Rapid & Blitz World Championship 2014 Russian Team Championship 2014 Sinquefield Cup 2014 Tigran Petrosian Memorial 2014 U.S. Championship 2014 U.S. Open 2014 Women's World Championship 2014 World Blitz Championship 2014 World Championship 2014 World Junior Championships 2014 World Rapid Championship 2015 Capablanca Memorial 2015 Chinese Championship 2015 European Club Cup 2015 European Team Championship 2015 London Chess Classic 2015 Millionaire Open 2015 Poikovsky 2015 Russian Team Championship 2015 Sinquefield Cup 2015 U.S. Championship 2015 Women's World Championship KO 2015 World Blitz Championship 2015 World Cup 2015 World Junior Championship 2015 World Open 2015 World Rapid & Blitz Championship 2015 World Team Championships 2016 2016 Candidates 2016 Capablanca Memorial 2016 Champions Showdown 2016 Chess Olympiad 2016 Chinese Championship 2016 European Club Cup 2016 Isle of Man 2016 London Chess Classic 2016 Russian Championship 2016 Sinquefield Cup 2016 Tal Memorial 2016 U.S. Championship 2016 U.S. Junior Championship 2016 U.S. Women's Championship 2016 Women's World Championship 2016 World Blitz Championship 2016 World Championship 2016 World Junior Championship 2016 World Open 2016 World Rapid Championship 2017 British Championship 2017 British Knockout Championship 2017 Champions Showdown 2017 Chinese Championship 2017 Elite Mind Games 2017 European Team Championship 2017 Geneva Grand Prix 2017 Grand Prix 2017 Isle of Man 2017 London Chess Classic 2017 PRO Chess League 2017 Russian Championship 2017 Sharjah Masters 2017 Sinquefield Cup 2017 Speed Chess Championship 2017 U..S. Championshp 2017 U.S. Junior Championship 2017 Women's World Championship 2017 World Cup 2017 World Junior Championship 2017 World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2017 World Team Championship 2018 British Championship 2018 Candidates 2018 Chess Olympiad 2018 Dortmund 2018 European Championship 2018 European Club Cup 2018 Gashimov Memorial 2018 Gibraltar 2018 Grand Chess Tour 2018 Grenke Chess Classic 2018 Grenke Chess Open 2018 Isle of Man 2018 Leuven 2018 London Chess Classic 2018 Norway Chess 2018 Paris 2018 Poikovsky 2018 Pro Chess League 2018 Shenzhen Masters 2018 Sinquefield Cup 2018 Speed Chess Championship 2018 St. Louis Rapid & Blitz 2018 Tal Memorial 2018 Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz 2018 U.S. Championship 2018 Wijk aan Zee 2018 Women's World Championship 2018 World Championship 2018 World Rapid & Blitz Championship 2019 Abidjan 2019 Aeroflot Open 2019 Biel 2019 Capablanca Memorial 2019 Champions Showdown 2019 Dortmund 2019 Du Te Cup 2019 European Championship 2019 Gashimov Memorial 2019 GCT Paris 2019 GCT Zagreb 2019 Gibraltar 2019 Grand Chess Tour 2019 Grand Prix 2019 Grenke Chess Classic 2019 Karpov Poikovsky 2019 Lindores Abbey 2019 Moscow Grand Prix 2019 Norway Chess 2019 Norway Chess blitz 2019 Pro Chess League 2019 Riga Grand Prix 2019 Russian Team Championship 2019 Sinquefield Cup 2019 St. Louis Rapid & Blitz 2019 U.S. Championship 2019 Wijk aan Zee 2019 Women's Candidates 2019 World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2019 World Team Championship 2020 Banter Blitz Series Final 2020 Candidates 2020 Champions Chess Tour 2020 Chess Olympics 2020 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship 2020 Clutch Chess 2020 FIDE Online Nations Cup 2020 Grand Chess Tour 2020 Magnus Carlsen Invitational 2020 Norway Chess 2020 Russian Championship 2020 Skilling Open 2020 St. Louis Rapid & Blitz 2020 U.S. Championship 2021 Aimchess U.S. Rapid 2021 Champions Showdown 2021 Chess.com Speed Chess Championship 2021 Chessable Masters 2021 Croatia Grand Prix 2021 Croatia Rapid and Blitz 2021 European Team Championship 2021 FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 FTX Crypto Cup 2021 Goldmoney Asian Rapid 2021 Grand Chess Tour 2021 Leon 2021 Magnus Carlsen Invitational 2021 Meltwater Tour Finals 2021 New in Chess Classic 2021 Norway Chess 2021 Opera Euro Rapid 2021 Paris Rapid & Blitz 2021 San Fermin Masters 2021 Sinquefield Cup 2021 St. Louis Rapid & Blitz 2021 Superbet Chess Classic 2021 Tal Memorial Blitz 2021 U.S. Championship 2021 Wijk aan Zee 2021 World Chess Championship 2021 World Cup 2021 World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2022 American Cup 2022 Candidates 2022 Chess Olympics 2022 Chessable Masters 2022 FIDE Grand Prix 2022 Grand Chess Tour 2022 Meltwater Tour 2022 Norway Chess 2022 Superbet Chess Classic 2022 Superbet Rapid & Blitz 2022 Wijk aan Zee 2022 World Chess Championship 2024 Chess Olympics 22014 Sinquefield Cup 22014 U.S. Championship 22016 Chess Olympiad 22019 GCT Zagreb 22019 Wijk aan Zee 2Mind Games 2016 2Wijk aan Zee 2017 60 Minutes A. Muzychuk A. Sokolov aattacking chess Abby Marshall Abhijeet Gupta Abhimanyu Mishra Accelerated Dragon achieving excellence ACP Golden Classic Adams Aeroflot 2010 Aeroflot 2011 Aeroflot 2012 Aeroflot 2013 Aeroflot 2015 Aeroflot 2016 Aeroflot 2017 AGON Agrest Airthings Masters Akiba Rubinstein Akiva Rubinstein Akobian Akshat Chandra Alejandro Ramirez Alekhine Alekhine Defense Aleksander Lenderman Aleksandra Goryachkina Alekseev Alena Kats Alex Markgraf Alexander Alekhine Alexander Beliavsky Alexander Grischuk Alexander Ipatov Alexander Khalifman Alexander Moiseenko Alexander Morozevich Alexander Niktin Alexander Onischuk Alexander Panchenko Alexander Stripunsky Alexander Tolush Alexandra Kosteniuk Alexei Dreev Alexei Shirov Alexey Bezgodov Alireza Firouzja Almasi AlphaZero Alvin Plantinga Amber 2010 Amber 2011 American Chess Magazine Amos Burn Anand Anand-Carlsen 2013 Anand-Gelfand 2012 Anand-Gelfand World Championship Match Anand-Topalov 2010 Anastasia Bodnaruk Anatoly Karpov Anders Ericsson Andrei Volokitin Andrew Martin Andrew Paulson Andrey Esipenko Android apps Anish Giri Anna Muzychuk Anna Ushenina Anna Zatonskih Anti-Marshall Lines Anti-Moscow Gambit Anti-Sicilians Antoaneta Stefanova Anton Korobov Anton Kovalyov apps April Fool's Jokes Archangelsk Variation Arianne Caoili Arjun Erigaisi Arkadij Naiditsch Arkady Dvorkovich Arne Moll Aron Nimzowitsch Aronian Aronian-Kramnik 2012 Arthur Bisguier Arthur van de Oudeweetering Artur Yusupov Arturo Pomar Ashland University football Astrakhan Grand Prix 2010 attack attacking chess Austrian Attack Averbakh Awonder Liang Baadur Jobava Bacrot Baku Grand Prix 2014 Baltic Defense Bangkok Chess Club Open Baskaran Adhiban Bazna 2011 Becerra beginner's books Beliavsky Ben Feingold Benko Gambit Bent Larsen Berlin Defense Biel 2012 Biel 2014 Biel 2015 Biel 2017 Bilbao 2010 Bilbao 2012 Bilbao 2013 Bilbao 2015 Bilbao 2016 Bilbao Chess 2014 bishop endings Bishop vs. Knight Blackburne Blaise Pascal blindfold chess blitz blitz chess Blumenfeld Gambit blunders Bob Hope Bobby Fischer Bogo-Indian Bohatirchuk Bologan Book Reviews books Boris Gelfand Boris Ivkov Boris Spassky Borislav Ivanov Borki Predojevic Boruchovsky Botvinnik Botvinnik Memorial Branimiir Maksimovic Breyer Variation brilliancy British Championship British Chess Magazine Bronstein Bronznik Brooklyn Castle Browne Brunello Bu Xiangzhi Budapest bullet chess Bundesliga California Chess Reporter Camilla Baginskaite Campomanes Candidates 2011 Candidates 2011 Candidates 2012 Candidates 2013 Candidates 2014 Capablanca Carlsen Caro-Kann cartoons Caruana Catalan Cebalo Charles Krauthammer Charlie Rose cheating Cheparinov chess and drugs chess and education chess and marketing chess books chess cartoons chess documentaries chess engines chess history chess in fiction chess in film chess in schools Chess Informant chess lessons chess openings chess politics chess psychology chess ratings chess strategy chess variants Chess24 Chess960 ChessBase DVDs ChessBase Shows ChessLecture Presentations ChessLecture Videos ChessLecture.com ChessUSA ChessUSA blog ChessVibes ChessVideos Presentations Chigorin Variation Chinese Chess Championship Chithambaram Aravindh Christian faith Christiansen Christmas Colin Crouch Colle combinations Commentary computer chess computers correspondence chess Corsica COVID-19 Cristobal Henriquez Villagra Cyrus Lakdawala Dan Parmet Danailov Daniel Parmet Daniil Dubov Danny Kopec Danzhou Danzhou 2016 Danzhou 2017 Dave MacEnulty Dave Vigorito David Anton David Bronstein David Howell David MacEnulty David Navara Davies Deep Blue Deeper Blue defense Dejan Antic Delchev Denis Khismatullin DGT errors Ding Liren Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam Dmitry Andreikin Dmitry Gurevich Dmitry Jakovenko Dmitry Svetushkin Dominic Lawson Donald Trump Dortmund 2010 Dortmund 2011 Dortmund 2012 Dortmund 2012 Dortmund 2013 Dortmund 2014 Dortmund 2015 Dortmund 2016 Dortmund 2017 Doug Hyatt Dragoljub Velimirovic draws dreams Dreev Dunning-Kruger Effect Dutch Defense DVD Reviews DVDs Dvoirys Dvoretsky Easter Edouard Efimenko Efstratios Grivas Eltaj Safarli Emanuel Lasker Emory Tate en passant endgame studies endgames Endgames English Opening Ernesto Inarkiev Erwin L'Ami Esserman Etienne Bacrot European Championship 2015 European Club Cup 2012 European Club Cup 2014 European Individual Championship 2012 Evgeni Vasiukov Evgeny Bareev Evgeny Najer Evgeny Sveshnikov Evgeny Tomashevsky Exchange Ruy expertise Fabiano Caruana Falko Bindrich farce FIDE FIDE Grand Prix FIDE politics FIDE Presidential Election FIDE ratings Fier fighting for the initiative Finegold Fischer Fischer-Spassky 1972 football Francisco Vallejo Pons Fred Reinfeld French Defense Fritz 15 Ftacnik Gadir Guseinov Gajewski Gaprindashvili Garry Kasparov Gashimov Gashimov Memorial 2017 Gata Kamsky Gawain Jones Gelfand Gelfand-Svidler Rapid Match Geller Geneva Masters Genna Sosonko Georg Meier Georgios Makropolous GGarry Kasparov Gibraltar 2011 Gibraltar 2012 Gibraltar 2013 Gibraltar 2014 Gibraltar 2015 Gibraltar 2016 Gibraltar 2017 Giorgios Makropoulos Giri Go Grand Chess Tour Grand Chess Tour 2017 Grand Chess Tour Paris 2017 Grand Prix 2014-2015 Grand Prix Attack Greek Gift sacrifice Grenke Chess Classic 2013 Grenke Chess Classic 2015 Grenke Chess Classic 2017 Grigoriy Oprain Grinfeld Grischuk Grob Groucho Marx Gruenfeld Defense Grรผnfeld Defense Gukesh Dommaraju Gulko Gunina Guseinov Gustafsson Gyula Sax Hannes Langrock Hans Berliner Hans Niemann Hans Ree Harika Dronavalli Hastings Hawaii International Festival Haworth Hedgehog helpmates Hennig-Schara Gambit Henrique Mecking HHou Yifan highway robbery Hikaru Nakamura Hilton Hjorvar Gretarsson Hort Horwitz Bishops Hou Yifan Houdini Houdini 1.5a Howard Staunton humor Humpy Koneru Ian Nepomniachtchi Icelandic Gambit Ignatius Leong Igor Kovalenko Igor Kurnosov Igor Lysyj Igors Rausis Iljumzhinov Ilya Makoveev Ilya Nyzhnyk Imre Hera Informant Informant 113 Informant 114 Informant 115 Informant 116 Informant 117 Informant 118 Informant 119 Informant 120 Informant 121 Informant 122 Informant 124 Informant 125 Informant 126 Informant 127 Informant 128 Informant 129 Informant 130 Informant 131 Informant 132 Informant 133 Informant 134 Informant 135 insanity Inside Chess Magazine IOC Ippolito IQP Irina Bulmaga Irina Krush Irving Chernev Isaac Kashdan Ivan Bukavshin Ivan Sokolov Ivanchuk J. Polgar Jacek Oskulski Jacob Aagaard Jaenisch Jaideep Unudurti Jakovenko James Tarjan Jan Gustafsson Jan Timman Jan-Krzysztof Duda Jay Whitehead Jeffery Xiong Jennifer Yu Jeremy Silman Jim Slater Jimmy Quon Joe Benjamin Joel Benjamin John Burke John Cole John Grefe John Watson Jon Lenchner Jon Ludwig Hammer Jonathan Hawkins Jonathan Penrose Jonathan Speelman Joop van Oosterom Jorden Van Foreest Jose Diaz Jose Raul Capablanca Ju Wenjun Judit Polgar Julio Granda Zuniga junk openings Kaidanov Kaido Kulaots Kalashnikov Sicilian Kamsky Karen Sumbatyan Karjakin Karpov Karsten Mueller Kasimdzhanov Kasparov Kateryna Lagno Kavalek Keanu Reeves Ken Regan Keres KGB Khalifman Khanty-Mansiysk Grand Prix Kim Commons king and pawn endings King's Gambit King's Indian King's Tournament 2010 Kings Tournament 2012 Kirsan Ilyumzhinov KKing's Gambit KKing's Indian Klovans Komodo Komodo 11 Komodo 12 Komodo Dragon Korchnoi Kramnik Krishnan Sasikiran Kunin Kurt Stein Lajos Portisch Larry Christiansen Larry Evans Larry Kaufman Larry Parr Lasker Lasker-Pelikan Latvian Gambit Laurent Fressinet Laznicka Lc0 Le Quang Liem LeBron James Leinier Dominguez Leko Leon 2017 Leonid Kritz lessons Leuven Rapid & Blitz Leuven Rapid & Blitz 2017 Lev Psakhis Levon Aronian Lilienthal Linares 2010 Linder Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu Loek van Wely Lombardy London 2009 London 2010 London 2011 London Grand Prix London System Lothar Schmid Lu Shanglei Lubosh Kavalek Luke McShane Macieja Magnus Carlsen Maia Main Line Ruy Malakhov Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Pein Mamedyarov Marc Arnold Marc Lang Marin Mariya Muzychuk Mark Crowther Mark Dvoretsky Mark Glickman Mark Taimanov Markus Ragger Marshall Marshall Gambit Masters of the Chessboard Mateusz Bartel Matthew Sadler Maurice Ashley Max Euwe Max Judd Maxim Matlakov Maxim Rodshtein Maxime Vachier-Lagrave McShane Mega 2012 mental malfunction Mesgen Amanov Michael Adams Miguel Najdorf Mikhail Antipov Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Golubev Mikhail Osipov Mikhail Tal Mikhail Zinar Mikhalchishin Miles Mind Games 2016 Minev miniatures Miron Sher Miso Cebalo MModern Benoni Modern Modern Benoni Moiseenko Morozevich Morphy Movsesian Mรผller Murali Karthikeyan music Nadareishvili Naiditsch Najdorf Sicilian Nakamura Nana Dzagnidze Nanjing 2010 Natalia Pogonina Navara NDame football Negi Neo-Archangelsk Nepomniachtchi New In Chess Yearbook 104 New York Times NH Tournament 2010 Nigel Short Nihal Sarin Nikita Vitiugov Nikolai Rezvov Nils Grandelius Nimzo-Indian Nino Khurtsidze NNotre Dame football Nodirbek Abdusattarov Nona Gaprindashvili Norway Chess 2013 Norway Chess 2014 Norway Chess 2015 Norway Chess 2016 Norway Chess 2017 Notre Dame basketball Notre Dame football Notre Dame Football Notre Dame hockey Nov. 2009 News Nyback Nyzhnyk Oleg Pervakov Oleg Skvortsov Olympics 2010 Open Ruy opening advice opening novelties Openings openings Or Cohen P.H. Nielsen Pal Benko Palma Grand Prix 2017 Parham Maghsoodloo Parimarjan Negi Paris Grand Prix Paris Rapid & Blitz passed pawns Paul Keres Paul Morphy Paul Rudd Pavel Eljanov pawn endings pawn play Pawn Sacrifice pawn structures Pentala Harikrishna Pesotskyi Peter Heine Nielsen Peter Leko Peter Svidler Petroff Philadelphia Open Philidor's Defense philosophy Phiona Mutesi Pirc Piterenka Rapid/Blitz Polgar Polgar sisters Polugaevsky Ponomariov Ponziani Potkin poultry Powerbook 2011 Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu Prague Chess Train problems progressive chess prophylaxis Puzzle Rush Qatar Masters 2015 QGD Tartakower QQueen's Gambit Accepted queen sacrifices Queen's Gambit Accepted Queen's Gambit Declined Queen's Indian Defense Rabat blitz 2015 Radjabov Radoslaw Wojtaszek Ragger rapid chess Rapport Rashid Nezhmetdinov Rathnakaran Kantholi rating inflation ratings Ray Robson Raymond Smullyan Regan Reggio Emilia 2010 Reggio Emilia 2011 Reshevsky Reti Reuben Fine Rex Sinquefield Reykjavik Open 2012 Reykjavik Open 2017 Richard Rapport Richard Reti Robert Byrne robot chess Robson Roman Ovetchkin rook endings RReggio Emilia 2011 rrook endings RRuy Lopez RRuy Lopez sidelines Rubinstein Rubinstein French Rudolf Loman Rudolf Spielmann rules Ruslan Ponomariov Russian Team Championship Russia-Ukraine war Rustam Kasimdzhanov Ruy Lopez Ruy Lopez sidelines Rybka Rybka 4 S. Kasparov S.L. Narayanan sacrifices Sadler Saemisch Sakaev Sam Collins Sam Sevian Sam Shankland Samuel Reshevsky Sanan Sjugirov Sao Paulo/Bilbao 2011 Sao Paulo/Bilbao 2012 satire Savchenko Savielly Tartakower Schliemann Scotch Four Knights Searching for Bobby Fischer Seirawan self-destruction Sergei Tiiviakov Sergei Tkachenko Sergey Erenburg Sergey Fedorchuk Sergey Karjakin Sergey Kasparov Sergey Shipov Sevan Muradian Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Shamkir 2015 Shamkir 2016 Shamkir 2017 Shankland Sharjah Grand Prix 2017 Shenzhen 2017 Shipov Shirov Short Shreyas Royal Sicilian Sinquefield Cup sitzfleisch Slav Smith-Morra Gambit Smyslov So-Navara Spassky spectacular moves Speelman sportsmanship Spraggett St. Louis Chess Club St. Louis Invitational St. Louis Rapid and Blitz 2017 stalemate Staunton Steph Curry Stephen Hawking Stockfish Stockfish 4 Stonewall Dutch stupidity Suat Atalik Super Bowl XLIV Susan Polgar Sutovsky Sveshnikov Sveshnikov Sicilian Svetozar Gligoric Svidler Svidler-Shankland match sweeper sealer twist Swiercz tactics Tactics Taimanov Tal Tal Memorial 2009 Tal Memorial 2010 Tal Memorial 2011 Tal Memorial 2012 Tal Memorial 2012 Tani Adewumi Tanitoluwa Adewumi Tarjan Tarrasch Tarrasch Defense Tashkent Tashkent Grand Prix Tbilisi Grand Prix 2015 TCEC TCEC Season 10 TCEC Season 11 TCEC Season 12 TCEC Season 13 TCEC Season 14 TCEC Season 15 TCEC Season 19 TCEC Season 20 TCEC Season 21 TCEC Season 22 TCEC Season 8 TCEC Season 9 TED talks Teimour Radjabov Terekhin The Chess Players (book) The Simpsons The Week in Chess Thessaloniki Grand Prix Three knights Tibor Karolyi Tigran Gorgiev Tigran Petrosian Tim Krabbรฉ time controls time trouble Timman Timur Gareev Timur Gareyev Tomashevsky Tony Miles Topalov traps Tromso Olympics 2014 TTCEC Season 14 TWIC Tyler Cowen types of chess players Ufuk Tuncer Ultimate Blitz Challenge underpromotion Unive 2012 University of Notre Dame upsets US Championship 2010 US Championship 2011 US Chess League USCF ratings USCL V. Onischuk Vachier-Lagrave Valentina Gunina Vallejo value of chess van der Heijden Van Perlo van Wely Varuzhan Akobian Vasik Rajlich Vasily Smyslov Vassilios Kotronias Vassily Ivanchuk Vassily Smyslov Velimirovic Attack Vera Menchik Veresov Veselin Topalov video videos Vidit Gujrathi Vienna 1922 Viktor Bologan Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Moskalenko Vincent Keymer Viswanathan Anand Vitaly Tseshkovsky Vitiugov Vladimir Fedoseev Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Tukmakov Vladislav Artemiev Vladislav Kovalev Vladislav Tkachiev Vlastimil Hort Vlastimil Jansa Vugar Gashimov Vugar Gashimov Memorial Walter Browne Wang Hao Wang Yue Watson Wei Yi Welcome Wesley So Wijk aan Zee 1999 Wijk aan Zee 2010 Wijk aan Zee 2011 Wijk aan Zee 2012 Wijk aan Zee 2013 Wijk aan Zee 2014 Wijk aan Zee 2015 Wijk aan Zee 2016 Wijk aan Zee 2017 Wil E. Coyote Wilhelm Steinitz William Golding William Lombardy William Vallicella Willy Hendriks Winawer French Wojtkiewicz Wolfgang Uhlmann women in chess Women's Grand Prix Women's World Championship World Champion DVDs World Championship World Cup World Cup 2009 World Cup 2011 World Cup 2011 World Junior Championship World Senior Championship WWesley So WWijk aan Zee 2012 Xie Jun Yasser Seirawan Yates Yermolinsky Yevseev Yoshiharu Habu Yu Yangyi Yuri Averbakh Yuri Dokhoian Yuri Razuvaev Yuri Vovk Yuri Yeliseyev Yuriy Kuzubov Zaitsev Variation Zaven Andriasyan Zhao Xue Zhongyi Tan Zug 2013 Zukertort System Zurab Azmaiparashvili Zurich 1953 Zurich 2013 Zurich 2014 Zurich 2015 Zurich 2016 Zurich 2017

    Entries in 2015 Women's World Championship KO (13)

    Sunday
    Apr052015

    Women's World Championship Finals, Day 4: Mariya Muzychuk The New Women's World Champion

    Another year goes by, and there is yet another women's world chess champion. There have been nine champions during this millennium - or eight, if one counts Hou Yifan's different reigns, of which there is likely to be a third starting late this fall. But let's give credit to the women who were in the arena in Sochi, and in particular to the one who came out the winner: Ukraine's Mariya Muzychuk. Her opponent, Natalia Pogonina, needed to win today to force tiebreaks, and while she took every chance and every reasonable risk she could, Muzychuk managed to keep control pretty much from start to finish. If anything, Muzychuk missed various chances to gain more, but as a draw was sufficient she preferred control to the pursuit of the full point.

    So congratulations to the winner, who is the second straight Ukranian to win the knockout title. For her sake, hopefully she will fare better than her predecessor (Anna Ushenina) when she faces Hou Yifan in a title match later this year.

    Saturday
    Apr042015

    Recap of Everything: Women's World Championship, Aeroflot and the U.S. Championships

    (Not literally everything, of course; that might take a while.)

    The women's world championship tournament could have come to an end today, and it was close. Natalia Pogonina lost the previous game and needed to make something of her last white in game 3. After a very complicated opening resulted in a middlegame where Pogonina had a piece for three pawns, it seemed that she had the better chances for a good while. To keep and try to grow that advantage, she needed to try f4-f5 at some moment - on move 29, for example - in order to open lines for her extra piece and to clear f4 for the knight. When she delayed too long her opponent, Mariya Muzychuk, was able to lock up the white pieces and steadily encroach into her opponent's territory. I don't know if she was ever winning, but she was close. Pogonina's 43.f5 was perhaps a case of better late than never: it didn't offer her any winning chances by this point, but it had some of the same virtues as before; in particular helping the sidelined knight from h3 return to the fray. White soon returned the piece, and although she didn't get all three of her pawns back she was still able to save the game. Tomorrow Pogonina will have to win with Black to force tiebreaks; otherwise, it's over and Muzychuk is the new world champion.

    About the Aeroflot Open I will say very little. Only this: Daniil Dubov defeated Lu Shanglei in the last round to tie for first with Ian Nepomniachtchi, who only drew his game. Unfortunately for Dubov, Nepomniachtchi had the better tiebreaks, which meant the latter won the big prize: qualification to the Dortmund super-tournament at the end of June.

    On to the U.S. Championships. Today the marquee matchup took place between Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So, and it was a dramatic game. So was doing alright until his 28th move, 28...g5, which he regretted the moment Nakamura played 29.f4. This gave White a significant edge, but it didn't last long. After 29...gxf4 30.Qf2 Nh4 Nakamura blundered with 31.Bxf4?/??, missing the shot 31...Nf3+. In a move Nakamura went from clearly better to clearly worse, but despite a prolonged bout of head-shaking he kept his concentration and defended well. So enjoyed a tax-free extra pawn in the endgame, but Nakamura managed to reach a rook ending. All rook endings are drawn, according to the ancient wisdom of our forebears, so Q.E.D. In fact, all six games on the "men's" side were drawn. Nakamura and Robson remain the co-leaders with 3/4.

    In the women's section there were only two draws. One was round 3 co-leader Rusudan Goletiani's game against Paikidze. That allowed Katerina Nemcova to take over clear first with 3.5/4, thanks to her win with Black against Alisa Melekhina. Goletiani is in clear second, while Paikidze, Irina Krush (who defeated Apurva Vikud) and Sabina Foisor (who defeated Annie Wang) have 2.5 points. Tatev Abrahamyan won her second straight game, and she has 2/4.

    Friday
    Apr032015

    Women's World Championship Finals, Day 2

    There's bad news and good news for Natalia Pogonina's fans. The bad news: she lost today against Mariya Muzychuk and trails their (best of) four game match 1.5-.5. The good news: she trailed in her last three matches as well before winning them, so she can shrug it off as business as usual and come back raring to go. It's not too late for her to win the women's world championship.

    Today's game was somewhat strange, in my estimation, as both players - especially Pogonina - seemed to persistently underestimate the importance of controlling the e5 square. In fact, she needn't have allowed White's f4 break in the first place. She stood better in the early middlegame, and one slightly ugly but strong way of keeping control was 27...g5, to be followed by ...Ng6 (and ...Bxg3 the moment White breaks the pin on the knight). Such a position would be almost unloseable for Pogonina.

    Instead, she allowed White to achieve 28.f4, after which the pressure would always be on Black to hold. A computer might thrive on this task, but not a human, and very soon Muzychuk had a winning advantage. She missed a chance to deliver an earlier knockout with 45.Ndf5!, when after 45...gxf5 46.R1xf5 Qe7 47.Rh6 Black will get picked apart one piece and pawn at a time. Black's slight material advantage is useless, as the bishop on b7, the knight on c5 and the rooks are playable no-to-almost no role in the defense whatsoever.

    Muzychuk missed this opportunity and one or two more chances later on to put a quicker end to the game, but the trend was always on her side and her position was just too much easier to play. Pogonina lasted until move 58 before throwing in the towel.

    Thursday
    Apr022015

    Women's World Championship Finals, Day 1

    The final round, and thus the final match, of the women's world championship started today. Natalia Pogonina and Mariya Muzychuk played the first game of a best-of-four classical match (there will be rapid tiebreaks in case of a 2-2 tie), and although Pogonina had good chances at one moment the game finished in a draw. The critical point in the game lasted for only two half-moves: Pogonina stood somewhat better after 26.Bg2, aiming among other things to expand on the kingside with f4 while trying to prevent Black from safely achieving ...c5, liberating her queen's bishop. Muzychuk probably should have played 26...Bd6, fighting for the c5 square and allowing the bishop to retreat to f8, where it would help cover the kingside.

    Instead, she played 26...Bc7, and now if Pogonina had played 27.Nd4! Black would have been in some trouble, e.g. 27...c5 28.Nf5 with pressure all over the board. Fortunately for Muzychuk, White played 27.Nf4, to put the knight on d3 in order to keep control over c5. She succeeded in that aim, but after 27...Nd7 28.Nd3 Bb6 29.Nc5 Bc8! 30.Nxd7 Bxd7 31.Bc5 Bxc5 32.Qxc5 Qa5! White's advantage was completely gone and the game was drawn soon thereafter.

    Game 2 is tomorrow, and while Pogonina might be slightly disappointed, she can at least take comfort in the fact that she is not starting a fourth straight match with a 1-0 deficit.

    Tuesday
    Mar312015

    Women's World Championship Semi-Finals Tiebreaks: Pogonina, M. Muzychuk Qualify for the Final

    The playoff matches were both pretty ugly, but between the pressure and the exhaustion the players are surely under that's to be expected. Natalia Pogonina completed her third straight comeback, defeating Pia Cramling 1.5-.5 in the rapid games, while Mariya Muzychuk needed a pair of 10-minute games to overcome Harika Dronavalli in the other semi-final. Pogonina and Muzychuk will contest a best-of-four game match for the women's world championship starting Thursday, after the only pure rest day scheduled for the entire event.

    In the first 25-minute game between Cramling and Pogonina, Cramling was better much of the way and could have kept the pressure on with 30.Rc6. It's not just an invasion; it's prophylaxis, too. In the game Pogonina met 30.Ne2 with 30...Nf5, putting annoying pressure on White's d-pawn. After 30.Rc6, however, 30...Nf5 would be met by 31.Nxd5 now that 31...Qxd5 is impossible. In the game Black was momentarily better, but it soon ended in a draw by repetition.

    In the rematch, Cramling was under serious pressure right from the jump, and from around moves 40-50 she was totally busted. There were plenty of wins along the way, and the last and simplest came on move 52. If she had played 52.Re7+ first, and only then followed up with 53.Re8 after the king retreated, it would have been game over. There was nothing Cramling could do to even pretend to fight after that. Instead, Pogonina played 52.Re8??, allowing Cramling to escape to a lost but playable ending with rooks and opposite-colored bishops, but down two pawns. Somehow she even won one of the pawns back and simplified the ending considerably, although she subsequently blundered her last pawn. Still, in the resulting ending with rook, bishop and two split pawns (one a wrong-colored rook pawn) vs. rook and opposite-colored bishop she had excellent drawing chances. She defended very well, but eventually errors crept in and cost her the game. The most obvious error was her failing to take the h-pawn on move 89. Black's king isn't getting mated and the absolute worst thing that can happen to Black is that she could end up defending with rook against rook and bishop - but I don't see how White can even get that far.

    In the other match, none of the games finished with a logical result. In the first 25-minute game Harika had a big advantage and probably would have won a nice attacking game had she played the strong move 33.Bc1(!). Instead, she played 33.Qf3(?), and after 33...Qb7 uncorked the horrid 34.Rc2??, walking into a lethal fork by 34...Ne1.

    In game two Harika had to play risky chess, so it wasn't surprising that she was in trouble, even lost, early in the middlegame. Muzychuk got a little sloppy with 23.Qd6 followed by 24.Bf4, most likely missing 24...Qe8(!). From there on Harika played very well, outplayed her opponent and came away with a well-deserved win. On to the ten-minute games!

    Harika again started with White, and in a strategically complicated position made a huge error when she played 20.Bf1. Had Muzychuk played 20...f4, she would have had a winning position. She missed it, and the game went on uneventfully for a long time. It seemed that the game was going to end in a draw, but at a certain point in the queen ending Muzychuk got into hot water. The big error was 44...Kh6; 44...Qf7 was necessary, not fearing the transition to a pawn ending. After 44...Qf7 45.Qxf7+ Kxf7 46.f3 exf3+ 47.Kxf3 Kf6 48.Kf4 it looks at first as if White is winning, as Black's king can't keep its counterpart off of the fifth rank. As it turns out, however, 48...Kg6 49.Ke5 Kg5 is fine for Black. White's only try is to make a run for the queenside: 50.Kd6 f4 51.gxf4+ Kxf4 52.Kc6 Kg3 53.Kxb6 Kxh4 54.Kxa5 h4 it's going to be a tablebase draw in spite of White's extra pawn on the queenside.

    Back to the game: after 44...Kh6 45.h4 Black was in zugzwang, and Harika won a pawn. On move 52 she won a second pawn, and the rest would normally be a matter of technique. For a long time Harika's technique was very good, and while Muzychuk put up good resistance the game was close to a conclusion after 77 moves. Here the shortest path to victory was 78.h6, not fearing Black's counterplay. After 78.h6 Qd1+ 79.Kh2 Qe2 White can boldly push her passer again - 80.h7 - as the checks come to a speedy end and then the pawn will queen. The way Harika chose wasn't so bad either, but on move 83 the right way to defend the f-pawn - if she was going to defend it at all (83.Qg7+ followed by 84.h7 was again good enough) - was with 83.Qf4. Instead, she played 83.Qe3??, and Muzychuk astutely recognized that the pawn ending was a draw.

    Harika had shown great resilience throughout the match, but this was too much. In the last game she was already lost after ten moves, and while the game lasted 56 moves in total it was a rout from start to finish.

    So Muzychuk moves on, and the two luckiest players in the tournament (they weren't only lucky, and of course they helped make their own luck, but they both received a number of pure gifts at crucial moments in the tournament) will face off in the final. Whose luck will come to an end, and who will run into the juggernaut that is Hou Yifan in October? Stay tuned.

    Monday
    Mar302015

    Women's World Championship Semi-Finals, Day 2

    Two matches, two tiebreaks. The participants in the women's world championship will not enjoy a day off today/tomorrow (Tuesday), as Natalia Pogonina managed to come back from an opening defeat in her third straight match, while Harika Dronavalli and Mariya Muzychuk drew their second straight game.

    Pogonina was in a must-win situation against Pia Cramling, and surprisingly Cramling helped her by playing a very sharp and provocative line of the Sicilian. Black's position was already difficult, but Cramling's 20th and 21st moves were practically suicidal. 20...Rc8 created tactical problems involving a possible Nd6, while 21...Qd8 guaranteed a swap of the dark-squared bishops. This exchange was massively in White's favor, and the rest of the game was just a demolition job. Pogonina's last move, 38.Nd7+, was a nice finishing touch, and now she has the psychological momentum going into the rapid tiebreaks.

    It's harder to say who has the psychological upper hand in the other match, if anyone. Harika was the one pressing and could enjoy an extra pawn in a rook and four vs. rook and three ending, but Muzychuk was never in trouble. The game was a long one, but not an especially difficult one for the defender.

    So we wait: there will be more chess before the finalists are determined.

    Sunday
    Mar292015

    Women's World Championship Semi-Finals, Day 1

    Both of today's games at the Women's World Championship were decided in endgames, and in both endgames there may have been missed opportunities. Mariya Muzychuk enjoyed a fairly significant advantage against Harika Dronavalli both shortly before the time control on move 40 and then again a few moves afterwards, but didn't managed to maintain her edge against the Indian grandmaster's stout defense. The game finished in a draw after 60 moves.

    Meanwhile, Natalia Pogonina played Lasker's Defense against Pia Cramling's Queen's Gambit, an approach which generally leads to two-result play - either White wins a long game or Black holds a draw. That's just what happened here: Black had to suffer forever. (To adapt a phrase from Dmitry Komarov, commenting on one of Magnus Carlsen's games from the World Blitz Championship last year in Dubai, "Pia Cramling will play this position until her opponent dies.") Cramling took her time carving up her opponent, and perhaps the critical moment came on Black's 49th move. After Pogonina's 49...Kd7 and Cramling's 50.h5, White's advantage is clearly decisive, and Cramling never gave her opponent another chance to survive. (Maybe she could have won more simply, e.g. with 71.d7+ Kxd7 72.Rg6, but she never endangered the win.)

    Instead, Black could have tried 49...gxh4+ 50.Kxh4 and then 50...Kd7, waiting. I'm far from sure that Black is surviving this, but she has a shot. A possible line: 51.Rb5 Kc8! 52.Kh5 Kc7 53.Rb6 Rxb6 54.axb6+ Kxb6 55.Kxh6 Ka5 56.Kg7 b5 57.Kxf7 b4 58.g5 b3 59.g6 b2 60.g7 b1Q 61.g8Q Qf5+ 62.Ke7 Kb5. Maybe someone can plug this into a 7-man tablebase somewhere or to FinalGen to let us know the assessment, but at least practically speaking Black has good chances to hold.

    So Pogonina must win tomorrow, but her fans need not fret too much - she has been in this position the past two rounds as well. Whatever happens - both in this match or in the other one - we will have a first-time women's world champion in a week or so.

    Sunday
    Mar292015

    Women's World Championship: Down to the Final Four

    The "Elite Eight" round of the Women's World Championship featured some big surprises, as the #1 and #3 seeds - Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk - were both bounced from the tournament. Humpy was better in most of the games in the match, but made lots of tactical errors (including some outright blunders in the first classical game) and lost to Mariya Muzychuk. Meanwhile, Mariya's older sister was outplayed by the Grand Dame of the tournament, Sweden's Pia Cramling. It would be nice to see a woman whose tenure as a top female player pre-dates the Polgar sisters finally get to enjoy a little time at the top.

    Anyway, we're down to the Final Four, and those matches, which are underway as I type this, see Mariya Muzychuk take on Harika Dronavalli and Pia Cramling battling Natalia Pogonina. The first-named player is White in today's games, and in both cases that player enjoys a slight edge.

    Sunday
    Mar292015

    Early Tales of Woe from the Women's World Championship

    It's a bit past the sell-by date as news, but these timeless tales of what can go wrong at a chess board may still be of interest. Both from Jeff Hall, by email:

    From round 1, quoting Jeff:

    http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1788248

    Daulyte had won the first rapid tiebreak with Black and so only needed a draw with White to advance to the 2nd round.

    Thinking she saw a perpetual check and in time trouble, she hung her queen with 57 Qd8-a5+?? and resigned before Socko could play the obvious 57 ... Qe1xQa5.

    What had she overlooked besides hanging her queen? MATE IN 1 MOVE! In the position where she hung her queen, she could have instead played 57 b5-b6#, winning the game and the match.

    She then lost the next round of tiebreak games 2-0, understandably.

    Must have been a long flight back to Lithuania for Daulyte.

    Here's the second one, from the round 2 tiebreaks. Huang Xian needed to win this game against Bela Khotenashvili to force an Armageddon game, and she was well on her way when she needed to make her 40th move. She was up a piece, a pawn, and over a minute on the clock, while her opponent was down to about six seconds. And yet...have a look here to see what happened. (The relevant action takes place at about 4:49:30.)

    It is sometimes inexplicable how the mind works, and when something like this happens all you can do is shrug it off as best you can. (You can replay the full game here.)

    Monday
    Mar232015

    Women's World Championship, Round 3, Day 1

    I'm going to try doing a quick post of today's action, and will turn things over tomorrow to a guest blogger. Your expressions of support have been greatly appreciated, not least the invitation to take things easy and not to rush to post. In part as a self-diagnostic, and in part because not blogging is making me a bit stir-crazy, I'll try this one now, and then resume my rest from the computer. Without any further ado...

    We're down to the Sweet 16 (an allusion to both a '50s rite of passage for teen girls and to where we are in the annual college basketball tournaments here in the U.S.), and so far the dominant player is the top seed, Indian GM Humpy Koneru. She won her first two matches with 2-0 scores, and got off on the right foot in this one with a convincing win over Alisa Galliamova. Perhaps there was one moment when Galliamova might have been able to cause some trouble early on, with 20...hxg2 first and only then ...Rc8. White (Humpy) would have enjoyed compensation for the slight material sacrifice, but Black would have been better off than in the game. In fact, material was only one part of the story. The second part became clear at move 26. By this point Koneru had played 21.gxh3 and 24.Kh1, and then 26.Rg1 was the punchline. Eventually that rook made its way to g7, and White's "blind pigs" (an old expression referring to a pair of rooks on the enemy second rank) decided the game.

    While Humpy's win was not much of a surprise, the victory of the other Indian entrant was. After defeating my pre-tournament pick (Irina Krush) in tiebreaks, she was up against one of the four remaining Russians in the field, former women's world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Kosteniuk was White in a Winawer and enjoyed a significant edge early on. To consolidate that edge and guarantee a "two result" game (i.e. either White wins or Black holds a draw) she needed to round up Black's passed a-pawn, which could have been done with 25.Rc3 a2 26.Rb3 followed by 27.Rb2 and snapping it off. Instead, she attempted to improve other aspects of her position, but thanks to some nifty tactics and the a-pawn's survival she was soon left with a lost position. Harika's technique was up to the task, and the Russian lost.

    Speaking of which...that was true of all four Russian women: they all lost. The aforementioned Galliamova was married to Vasil Ivanchuk once upon a time, but she is Russian and not Ukranian, and in addition to her loss and Kosteniuk's Natalia Pogonina and Valentina Gunina will also face must-win games tomorrow to avoid elimination.

    Pogonina's loss, with the black pieces against Marie Sebag, was exceptionally long and must have been correspondingly painful. The opening was a 4.d3 Berlin, and one interesting moment suitable for analysis came on move 14. White thought for about 16 minutes before choosing the positional 14.Bd3, clearing c2 for the knight. I suspect that she probably spent only 2-3 minutes on that move, at most, and spent most of the time puzzling through the complications beginning with 14.f4 exf4 15.Rxf4 g5. Here both 16.Qf3 and 16.Qd3 lead to all sorts of fun tactical possibilities, but they're probably more fun when one isn't playing in an elimination tournament with lots of money at stake.

    Moreover, Sebag's pragmatic approach may have been objectively best as well. It certainly worked out in the game, as she was soon clearly better and then even winning. Sebag's 25.d5 followed by the little tactical trick culminating in 28.Bxb5 picked off a clear pawn (28...Bxb5 29.Nd5 wins the bishop on c7, as 29...Qd7?? loses the queen to 30.Nf6+). Sebag was well on her way to victory, but a position arose where the advantage was no longer a comfortable one. From a computer's standpoint, the advantage grew, but so did the complexity of the win. It was not a "matter of technique"; instead, she had to find a precise move, the right idea, and couldn't just coast to victory. That precise move was 35.Rxd6!, and it was missed.

    By the time the players made the time control (after their 40th moves) Pogonina had reclaimed material equality and the position was approximately equal. (It could have been completely equal had she spotted the neat 39...Rxg3! 40.fxg3 Nf5+ 41.Kh2 Ne3 followed by taking the rook on d5 and using the counterattacking chances provided by the opposite-colored bishops. It's understandable that Pogonina missed or rejected this, as she was almost surely in time trouble.) So Pogonina had escaped, but with 44...fxe6 rather than 44...Nxe6 she had to start suffering all over again. In due course a rook ending was reached, with Sebag once again a pawn ahead, and Pogonina dutifully defended into the third and final time control (starting on move 61).

    That ending was objectively drawn, and on move 75 Sebag sacrificed her extra pawn in the hopes of making progress. By now the players were in time trouble again and living off of the increments, a state of affairs which was worse for Pogonina as the defender than for her opponent. Pogonina's 79...Ra1+ was dubious, though not fatal (she should have pushed her passer straight away), but on move 81 her decision to follow the hoary adage that passed pawns must be pushed cost her the game for the final time. She needed to find the subtle 85...Ra5!!, pinning the b-pawn; only thus could she have survived. She might have found this with more time, but to mind the real damage was done, practically speaking, two moves earlier. After 81...h4? the win was straightforward, though Pogonina could have put up much greater resistance with 86...Qxc6+! followed by 87...Ra6+ and 88...Rg6. Peter Svidler once famously failed to defeat Boris Gelfand in a queen vs. rook ending, so it was certainly worth a shot - especially considering how easy the win was after the move she played in the game. (White, for her part, probably should have chosen a different 86th move, at least unless she felt confident in her ability to win the Q vs. R. ending.)

    The fourth Russian failure came at the hands of Pia Cramling, one of the oldest players in the field. (Born in 1963, she is probably the oldest.) Cramling was a trailblazer in women's chess, one of the few women of her day who would, and could, regularly and successfully compete against men in open events. Before the game I heard or saw Gunina say that Cramling had "good fundamentals" and would always get the advantage, but that she (Gunina) would always trick her and win on time. That led me (together with a little bit of reverse ageism) to root for Cramling, and she didn't disappoint. She was winning practically straight out of the opening, and while Gunina played on forever and tried every trick, there was no escape. Cramling was a very deserved winner.

    It was possible to win even if one's opponent wasn't from Russia (though that seemed to help). Former women's world champion Antoaneta Stefanova had a winning advantage against Mariya Muzychuk, but that advantage needed consolidating due to her potentially overextended kingside pawns and the porousness of the squares behind them. (Black's rook on the second rank was likewise a factor.) Stefanova didn't manage, and soon Muzychuk had a significant edge. Stefanova defended stoutly and was seemingly on her way to a draw - until another error soon after the time control gave her a lost position. Like Pogonina, Stefanova had a third chance to save the game, and - like Pogonina - was unable to make good. Muzychuk's 58...g5 was a bit of a bait, and Stefanova bit. Had she ignored it with something like 59.Kd4! she probably would have saved the game, the point being that 59...gxf4 60.gxf4 Bxf4?? 61.Rxe7+ would win for White while even more sensible 60th moves for Black wouldn't be terribly worrisome. Black has to keep White's king out of c5, needs to keep the e7 pawn protected (and it can't be protected by ...Kf7 as a subsequent bishop move would allow d6+) and has to worry about keeping the f5 pawn protected as well - it can be targeted in various ways (especially but not only if Black plays ...Bxf4 at some point). All this to say that ...gxf4 wasn't really a threat. Unfortunately for Stefanova, she played 59.fxg5?, inviting the Black king across the board, and after that White had no chance to defend.

    The sixth and final winner of the day was the last Chinese player remaining in the competition, Zhao Xue. (There were nine Chinese players at the start of the tournament, with only Russia, with 10 players, having more representation in the field.) She defeated Bela Khotenashvili straightforwardly and smoothly, keeping alive her country's hopes for an all-Chinese world championship match later this year. (Outgoing champion and women's #1 Hou Yifan earned her spot in that match by winning the last Women's Grand Prix series.)

    Finally, the two draws. The first featured Georgian IM Meri Arabidze, who is the dark horse or Cinderella of the remaining participants, with a rating of just 2374. (Pogonina is the second-lowest rated player remaining in the field, and while she's only rated 2456 she was 2508 less than a year ago.) Arabidze had a big advantage against Viktorija Cmilyte for almost the entire game, and there were stretches when that advantage was decisive. Unfortunately for Arabidze, she allowed Cmilyte to exchange her way out of danger, not appreciating that the nature of her advantage was such that - barring subsequent material gains - it needed to be exploited in a middlegame setting.

    The second draw also featured a Georgian player - Lela Javakhishvili - and for that matter also featured a Muzychuk - Anna, who is Mariya's older sister. This was a strange game, agreed drawn in just 23 moves, and in a position where Black (Javakhishvili) appears to have a significant advantage. Earlier, it looked like Muzychuk was on the way to a serious advantage, especially had she played e5 a move sooner than she did.

    Anyway, that wraps up this rather long post. I hope you enjoyed it, and hope you'll be just as happy with the pinch-hitter(s) in the days to come.